


We're All Damaged Goods

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Get Out of the Fridge [12]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Gen, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 23:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8347564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Rex asks Ahsoka to go investigate two missing units. Kix comes home. And Anakin has to crack open a stubborn vod's self-defense if he's going to save his own brother's sanity.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Wolffe's Choice](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8091961) by [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly). 



> The story referenced and reacted to here is rather rough and harsh on an emotional level.

Rex met his Commander on the landing pad, one of the high ones, up out of easy sight and range. Most of the men were de-chipped, but they weren't taking any chances… and the 501st was possibly one of the worst off, because of the Temple. He greeted Kix with a full head-butt, keeping their foreheads pressed tight together for long moments. 

"Good to see you, vod. We need you. But I need to ask my Commander for help," Rex said, falling back to the older rank, as he had since this crisis began. Kix wouldn't know their promotions, and outside of the actual battle at Mandalore, neither felt like they had stuck.

"Of course."

Ahsoka crossed her arms over her chest armor, glaring. She wanted to be here, helping her men directly and could tell Rex had other plans.

"It's the 104th and 127th, Ahsoka," Rex said softly. "Not a single member. I hate to ask it, because I know you will feel _his_ death, if they managed to get him, but will you recon Cato Neimodia, and learn why they never came back? Are they being held by the Seppies?"

She didn't want to go, she wanted to be here, helping... but if there was any chance that the Neimodians were holding the Wolfpack, holding the 127th -- she couldn't leave them. She wouldn't leave any brother in those conditions, not if there was anything she could do about it. Knowing that she was most likely to feel Master Plo's death... that ached in her chest, but she had a duty to their brothers, her men. "Of course I'll go, Rex. You can't leave, and no other vod is likely to be in any shape for it. Except Kix, and I know you need him here. 

"...how's my Master?" 

"I'd say murderous except he's not stupid enough to let his temper get there again," Rex told her. "We're having communication issues in Torrent itself. They know he had no choice. But there's this thing, where we're geared to see our Jedi as unbreakable, and no one can figure out how to help him because it means admitting he did break." Rex rolled his eyes. "But we've got all units in, except those two. Including the 212th."

He kept his eyes clear of the pain; she didn't need to be torn by his upset when he needed to know about those units. Somehow, 'Captain' now outranked everyone, as far as the Vod'e were concerned, because the ultimate command was on his shoulders, and the General's.

"The 212th... oh, Rex. You'll help them, I know you will," Ahsoka told him, not needing to read Rex's face to know that something about Ghost Company was tearing him apart. "And... I'll be home again soon, to see if I can help. But if I know my Master, what he needs most is to be able to comfort _them_. 

"Such a Jedi at the stupidest times," she muttered, shaking her head before she moved enough to hug Rex in tight, and pat Kix's shoulder one more time before she headed back up onto the ship. 

Rex watched her move with so much pride, so many other emotions… and then he settled a hand on Kix's shoulder. "Come on. You're officially head medic, vod, on my say-so, and the General will back me for it," he said, letting his mind focus here, even if his heart reached out to the young woman leaving to find their last pieces.

"Didn't I have enough problems just with you lot?" Kix demanded, though he half-smiled, "Let alone putting me in charge of the whole operation? Who's running it right now -- and how good a job are they doing? 

"Fill me in, vod, I have _work_ to do," he added as he got moving, following Rex's lead. 

"We've got Crank, out of Keeli's old command, currently," Rex said, just to show they had found someone experienced with trauma. "Every medic that has pulled through the process has been shoved under his command, but because he's been doing it all along, and doesn't really know me or the general, he hasn't had a chance to unload." Rex continued the briefing down to the inhabited areas, feeling like he might actually survive with more sanity, because Kix… Kix would figure out how to fix it.

+++

Ahsoka had found Cato Neimodia still in grip of panic. Apparently, from what she could intercept on open frequencies, their leadership was missing, and now factions were warring on one another. 

There was no mention of Republic forces… and she had to do a scan of the surface twice before she found the evidence they had even been there. Evading local patrols, which seemed to be steering clear of the remote staging area, Ahsoka set down to investigate.

There had been a camp, fully prepared for a long campaign. It was completely destroyed, by strategic blasts.

That wasn't the thing that sent Ahsoka to her knees. The feeling of massive, sudden death was so strong, yet it was the clear signs that a pyre had been crafted, that the men of the units here had been given final rites that did her in. She fell into the ash-strewn dirt, losing all that had been in her stomach.

Who had done this? Who had killed them all, then given them their rites?

Despite the agony of trying to remain near such death, Ahsoka had to know. She made herself investigate the signs of the pyres, realizing there were actually two. One was so much smaller, and the coldness in the pit of her stomach was fast becoming a ball of ice.

Even in death, the Wolfpack had remained separate, which implied one of their number had done this. Given that Ahsoka was almost positive that Plo Koon would have been telepathically linked to his loyal men, how had that lashed back through them as the Order went out? One, maybe all of them, could have turned on their brothers, and engineered this end, once they lost their General.

She found herself staggering back to her ship, eyes blind with tears, but from what she could see and feel, there was nothing for her to do for either unit save keep their memories and say their names.

+++

The problem, Rex swiftly realized as he faced Cody, trying to convince the man of his orders, was that Cody would not go where his men were not. That was serving as a good excuse for his brother, to avoid the issue of being told he could and should go to Obi-Wan Kenobi. With a sigh, he left his stubborn brother and went to find Anakin.

"You're going to have to send the whole 212th, Sir, if you want to actually make that karking son of a bottle actually go where he's needed," Rex growled. "He's perfectly right to say his unit needs him, and I get that, but I swear he's refusing to face the General out of guilt or shame one, and he won't open up and talk to me about it!"

Anakin snarled, low in his throat, and thunked his head back against the wall in frustration. "And start a panic when an entire ship shows up? Love of the Force, he's picking the worst time to be stubborn! 

"He might not talk to you, _vod_ , but he's going to talk to me." He pushed off the wall, grabbing hold of his composure mostly by his teeth, and went to go shake sense into one karking idiot Commander, following the mental sense of him. 

Cody was not difficult to find, having taken up an observation point as his men, minus the 501st for the first time in days, worked in their tactical blacks on their gear. It was a methodical, regimented procedure, perfect to Cody's way of thinking for helping them move forward. Granted, pulling them away from their brothers in the 501st had been hard, but Cody felt they needed some time to handle their own problems as a singular unit.

Too many of these survivors had been present when the order hit, and too many had fired.

"Cody," Anakin said as he came within a few steps, keeping his voice low but firm on the absolute demand for his attention. 

"Sir." The Commander turned to face the man that was currently leading the entire GAR… sorry a lot as they all were, currently. Cody's jaw tightened. He'd get his men back to shape, before the Seppies could pull something that truly brought the Republic to their knees.

Anakin caught the taste of that thought, the edges of the words, and he let the back of his mind mutter a curse before his own jaw set. "Come talk to me." 

He could not refuse a direct order, and Cody didn't think there was any wriggle room in the man's voice for it not to be one. He followed silently, as much a ghost as the company he led… and with more reason lately.

He waited until the general had them settled, then just fixed his eyes on Anakin's face, giving him more than some of the men could.

"Cody," Anakin said, quietly appreciative of that his brother's Commander could do that much, would give him that much, "I don't care what you've convinced yourself of. I'd rather not cut orders forcibly separating you from the 212th, but if that's what I have to do to get you where _my_ brother needs you to be, I will. 

"You gonna make that necessary?" 

Cody's teeth clenched firmly, and he promised Rex a severe beating in a ring later. "Sir, my men were there too. It is a comfort to us all that he escaped, but I cannot take privilege over them," he said, spelling it out in terms the General might understand. Like _haran_ he would go see their general without the man being available to all the survivors.

"Cody, he can't _take_ dealing with all of you at once!" Anakin retorted, his own jaw locking -- like kriff Cody was taking any of this out on Rex, but that was for later-- as he met Cody's eyes, "and neither can my twin _ik'aad_ that he's bound himself to taking care of!" 

That made Cody startle at least. Rex hadn't mentioned that, hadn't told him much beyond Kenobi lived but was cut off in some ways.

"I do not feel comfortable leaving my men, Sir, and find it highly unlikely that my General would understand if I abandon my post with them."

"What, you don't trust Rex with them, now? Because he didn't go through it?" Anakin asked, switching tactics -- and to see if he was right. 

"Your Captain has problems enough, given the shape of the 501st," Cody retorted. "My place is with my men." 

Okay, so he didn't have to strip down, bar himself from the Force, and get in a ring with Cody over _that_ , at least. Good thing to know. He contemplated his options, trying to decide which strike would be the most effective in getting through this particular stupidity. "...maybe you're right," he murmured softly, "and I'm wrong, and you _don't_ actually care enough about him to make a difference in if _he_ recovers from the death of almost everyone he's known since he was an infant." 

The change in the Force presence was deep and profound, a shattering of grief and horror and guilt and shame mixing in the man that stood taller, jaw jutting out in conditioned response to his own distress. Never show weakness was something he had taken deeply to heart. But then, look who had led him.

"The last thing, Sir, that General Kenobi needs is to look on the face of those that did that to him, then."

"...you're so much like him," Anakin said, holding on to his composure with a fist hidden back behind one thigh, watching Cody's face. Without the Force, he wouldn't have had a clue how truly he'd struck, but with it... "and he _doesn't blame you_ , Cody. If we'd thought it was safe for the brothers coming in, he'd have been waiting here _for_ you!" 

"Kriff no!" Cody snapped at the idea of his general having been anywhere near them when they first arrived. He could still feel the pull to go make certain Obi-Wan was dead when they first arrived. If the man had been here… his skin paled dramatically at the thought, his will breaking in a million pieces.

Anakin moved, sliding a steadying arm behind his back, his other hand on a shoulder, offering comfort the way he'd decided he was _never_ going to fail to do again. "Steady," he murmured, soft. 

It took Cody a long while to find words again, but eventually, he met Anakin's eyes again. "Sir, you're certain I can't hurt him again? That I won't ever… try that again?" He knew what he'd been told. He just had to have that solid reassurance. 

Aah. So _that_ was what had been at the heart of all this desperate resistance. He'd let go wanting to kick Cody, now that he knew _that_. Force knew his brother needed _someone_ to protect him from himself. "It's deactivated, Cody, and removed. There's nothing left to push you." Now was really not the time to make a joke about Obi-Wan being enough to drive people to want to strangle him without any artificial help, so he bit his tongue on it. "It can't come back. If it would help, I can look for the kind of Force manipulations we had to rip out of _my_ head...?" 

"I… I think I would prefer that, Sir," Cody declared, desperate to protect Obi-Wan at all costs. "It never made any sense, Sir, for us to go to Utapau without backup for him, but if he was targeted specifically? And he'd have to be, Sir, as one of the _jetii_ who actually got things done!"

"And the one most likely to be able to reach me, even in the full grip of the Dark," Anakin agreed, holding on a little harder at that thought. He'd raged at Obi-Wan going without him, when it was Grievous, but... "All right, Cody. For that, we're sitting down, come on." 

He pulled out a chair for Cody as he moved, dragged another over for himself, facing it, and got them both settled. He did it all without his hand ever leaving Cody's shoulder for more than a moment. "You picked up some meditation, I'm sure. Just center yourself, and I'll do the rest." 

Cody listened, took the first deep breath, closing his eyes, and reached for all the lessons Obi-Wan had given him in this.

If he could be truly confident he was safe, he would be able to go, see the General, care for him as he needed. Until then, though, he was a risk, and neither he nor their unit would allow Kenobi to come to harm because of them ever again.


End file.
